lele

Thank you very much for this! Yes, it is a family Hukou. In fact, it was the same house that the grandparents lived in prior to the war with the Japanese. In fact, the family can trace its time back to the German Occupation of Qingdao and Yantai in the latter parts of the Qing Dynasty. Would this qualify??? ps. she may not want to give up the hukou for shenzhen, as it allows her easy access to go to/from hk (unless the northern city is another one of those 18 permitted cities), if this is important to you. just a thought? -------------------------------------- And about the Schengen visa: you said that you traveled on a student visa. I have heard that this is no problem. I also have met people on a business visa who have travelled. However, the question I have is how to get a personal tourist visa, not a group tourist visa, and not a business visa? I know that once one has a GC it is easy. However, I have heard nothing of problems from others. It seems that you may have done this, and if this is what you have done, could you share about how you overcame the documentary holds of the US$10,000 that is currently being requested (at least through the French Consulate in NYC)? ----------------- Thanks again to all of you!

Thank you Jenny! BTW: here is the link I used for that article (slightly different): http://www.bjreview.com.cn/200440/Nation-200440©.htm The article is detailed, and this I appreciate. Actually, the requirements are MUCH EASIER than to get a HK Green Card, at least if you have a PhD. One of the requirements is that you have worked in a University or for one for 4 years. In HK, it is 7 for the same requirements. But, it seems that the personal investment options are possible only for wealthy people (US$500,000 for some field to 2,000,000 in general), as well as the marriage options (can not have left china for 5 years??) are strict. Thanks again!

From what I have seen, once you have a US Green Card, it is a simple process of obtaining a visa to go to at least the Shengen region of the EU, as well as the UK. However, this is just from a few case examples of people I have talked with. Does anyone else have familiarity in this subject? Thanks all!

Actually, my darling is really stressed about this. It all of the sudden IS important for two decisive reasons: 1. if you ever want to apply for a China Green Card, your husband/wife must have a Chinese Hukou that you apply to. 2. If your hukou is from certain more well to do cities, the chinese passport holder can easily go to/from hong kong / macau (and ultimately, when the taiwan province is fully back in the fold, to there to). We were wondering if it would be possible for her to switch it to the home of a relative in the same city that she currently lives in now. If so, what is the procedure for doing this? Thanks!!!

I know that in NYC, all you need is the mariage certificate and a copy (they will keep the copy) and a letter from your wife/husband (in chinese). The fee depends on the country that YOUR passport is issued in. However, americans pay more than others (in retaliation for the new finger printing fees that we imposed on most chinese visitors to the US). From HK, I am not sure, but I gather that the rules are the same at all chinese consulates around the world (at least from what I have seen). If you are not married, you can still easily apply for a 2-entry visa. This above all applied ONLY IF YOU HAVE ALREADY BEEN TO CHINA ON A DIFFERENT VISA BEFORE. It is quite rare for them to issue a multi-entry L visa to a first time applicant to China. GL!

Thank you very much for this insight Jenny! Somethings about our situation: 1. I am working on a PhD currently, and until I am done (at least 4 years) I can not leave. 2. She wants to finish a degree befre we consider leaving, even part time, and this is something I support her on so strongly. So it will be at least 4 years, more possibly 5. 3. With a PhD from a well-known US University, I have heard it is easier. Is this true? 4. We were also looking at investing (in coordination with my father) in a medium-sized business. How large however must the investment be, currently, for it to count? I do think that time will help. In fact, we prefer to take an open mind on this and know that since we have to wait at least 4-5 years, that things will work more smoothly then. I hope! :-) Thanks for your suggestions...I will see what I can dig up in the archives on this. And thanks for your advice with the China Green Card. Hmm, it still is easier than obtaining a HK green card (requires 7 years). LeLe

I didn't exactly scam the scammer, but I did play with them for a while. I was getting one about once a week and would send a reply (when the dating site had not already cut them off) telling them to meet me at a location close to them. Of course I never showed up. I hope they did. Ahh, about dating site scammers/idiots! Hehe, I have a funny story to relate on this one. A female friend of mine, back in the undergrad days (when all of the dating sites were still 100% free!) she was getting harassed by so many guys who were clearly lying to her. So, one day, we got 3 of them (there were so many that we hoped to show up) to all appear, in the nude, except for 1 necktie, at the wharf on the Oakland side of the bay. It was dark, and they were all expecting action, but not each other. We then photographed away as they were trying to figure out what was going on. The next morning, the photos were up on her profile, with some comments, and suffice it to say that all of the men who were just there to scam/harass her went away really quickly. I am not sure if people today would fall for the same trick (this happened more than 6 years ago), but it could be funny to see if it did!

It is a Chinese visa requirement that you have a ticket to LEAVE the country, if you are getting an L-class visa. The first time I went to china, I did not have a roundtrip ticket. I did however have a ticket out of the country, just to a different destination from the one I arrived on. This was absolutely fine and easily done. You could purchase an air ticket to a neighboring nation. You could purchase a boat ticket to a neighboring country (S. Korea, Vietnam, Japan). You could also purchase a rail ticket to a neighboring country (the high gauge rail line to Hanoi in Vietnam is spectacular). You could fly through Hong Kong, which does not have this restriction. However, if you go this way, you will have to cross by land to shenzhen and then fly from there, which although sounding complex, really is not. Or you could do what I did the second time I went, and just use Air China. They are quite inexpensive (never has cost me more than US$800 RT from NYC, and usually less), and they let you switch your return date, free of charge, so long as the flights on that day are not booked. Good Luck!!!

Well, I have been obtaining an IP address list of all of the sites from which the scam emails are sent. I have been using this list so that I can IP filter them to my trash bin. However, if someone wanted revenge, they could likely sell these lists to the mass markerting agencies, make some dough, and watch what happens to the scam people when *THEY* get mass-spammed. possibly? Sorry to hear about your experience and I hope that things go better for you in the near future!

Does anyone know if the hotel is owned by the US government?!? Is it a way for them to operate a business legally, without having to pay taxes because they claim it as diplomatic property?

Hmmm, it seems like many here have not had an issue with this. Would someone possibly be able to post a similar question on 001, or know if a similar question has been posted on 001 before, and if so, what the results are? I would ask my precious to do this directly, but she does not go to a wangba too frequently. Thanks again!!!

Completely fair assessment!!! I for one would only exchange money with people I know, such as people at my university or who specifically work with me. However, there are many such people who exist. But, an excellent point!!! This should also be considered. Which agencies out there have back track records? For example, Mastercard recently has been sued for fudging foreign exchange rates. So, I will not use my master card on my up and coming trip. Does anyone else know of issues like this?

I am very sad to hear about this... *sigh* However, one piece of advice: I have seen from chinese people who have come on a b2 (not a b1, right?) who are about that age that if **1** grandparent applies, and claims that the other is still staying in china, that they will approve it 99% of the time. Then, after returning before the visa expires, have the other one apply, to go alone. Then, under US law, once you have been accepted for a B2 in china, so long as you left the US in legal status, if you apply again, within 1 year, it is an automatic acceptance. Since now both have been accepted, visited, and returned, they can continue to come, once every 11 months, stay for 5, return, come together 11 months later, etc etc etc. Good luck, and I am really sorry to hear about your experience. I hope the future goes better for you. LeLe ps. you may also want to look into the multiple rejection laws. I am not sure what they say, but have heard that if you get multiple rejections within a certain period of time, that you will be barred for all visas for a long period of time, i hope it is not true though!

Hello All. I have a question posed to me just a few minutes ago by my dearest. When she leaves China, since her Hukou is currently in the home that her grandparents (rest in peace) lived in, the rest of the family wants to sell the home. Given this makes sense (since she will not be living there, it makes sense to sell it) it presents another problem. What should she do with her Hukou? Since she and I would like to return to China in the future, to at least open a business somewhere, and possibly to live part of the time every year, I think that it would be very important for her to have a good Hukou, and her current city is a descent one to have. Additionally, by retaining a Hukou it allows me to apply in the future for a china green card if we live there part of the year (and in the US the rest of the year). So, what do all of your Chinese people do? In general, do you just leave and loose your ID card? Are you able to establish your Hukou as an overseas person? And if the latter, what consequences (both positive and negative does it have for you)? How would it effect your future position? Since her current Hukou city allows her to keep her Hukou there, we can easily stop the house from being sold, but it is not something which will benefit anyone. Another option is to have a family member currently in the town allow her to add her Hukou to their home, still in the city, in exchange for her releasing the house to be sold. In this case, is it easy for her to switch her Hukou (from one home in the same city, to another home in the same city)? Has anyone else done this and if so, what is the proper procedure? Can the police just do this, or is it more complex than that? Thank you all very much for your help with this unusual and sensitive question. LeLe

You do have every right to be angry! It is true, most of the blue states, ever since the 1980's have paid a disproportionate amount of tax dollars, compared with what they get in return. Now, this is appropriate when the nation is working to develop the nation as a whole. However, our system was set up to exactly not do that: it is why Jefferson and Madison wrote into the Constitution a way of empowering the states over the government (they were scared of another King George coming to power...hmmm, they were RIGHT on this one!!!). So, although this is just one example, it is one which stings and smacks of bias indeed! When applied at the level in the US, they should have more people working in regions where there are more applicants, generally higher density population areas. However, this is not proportional. It should also be the same in terms of where the applications are overseas. However, it seems that politics causes a large impact on the distribution of consulates per country. It is a complete farce! In england, it took 7 weeks from the day the i-129 was submitted to the K1 being obtained, and my co-worker was said sorry to for it being so slow. Yes, you have every *right* to be angry. However, being angry will likely not help you to resolve your issue, or to resolve our injustice. Instead, I would encourage you to focus on what you can change, now, and to use this time to the best possible way that it can be used. Does it make me sad? You bet! But, I will not let that get the best of me, I hope, ... ! Good Luck to you, and may things go well for you these next few weeks/months. LeLe

Not true. True, the US government claims the Yuan is undervalued. False that they set the rate. The Yuan is "pegged" to the dollar by the Chinese government. The exchange rate you get depends on who you wish to exchange it with. American banks take the "juice". You get a better deal exchanging with a Chinese bank. What do you mean false? It is true that the Chinese Peg the rate. I do not deny this. But, in exchange, the SEC has the US in reverse set their own PEGGED rate. This is what legally enables the banks to make such a windfall in the conversion back. What in fact happens is that both sides have pegged the rate to the other. The legal justification that the US uses is because of its huge deficit with China at the current time. Additionally, China does not actually "Peg" its currency the same way that certain other nations (ie. Cuba) pegs its currency. In Cuba, one transferable peso today = 1.1 dollars. This is how it is defined. In china, they do not define it based on the US$ anymore. What they do is use market mechanisms (all perfectly legal under the WTO rules) to buy and sell US Debt that they have collected, to keep it at a rate of exchange which remains stable for them. Since this is all perfectly legal, there is no way to ever force them to change their rate of exchange, and hence it can not be UNFAIR. Actually, there is one way to stop them from doing this, and that is to stop selling them our debt. Of course to do that, it would require the US raising taxes (which is not necessarily a bad thing, if they were being spent on such things as speeding up our processing time and accuracy!!!!), getting out of Iraq, etc. Just some perspectives on the issue that I thought made some sense to me when I first thought it through!!!

These rules on sending limits of money do NOT APPLY to members of the OECD. Hence, we are certainly unfair in the way they are applied, and do it for political reasons. *SIGH*

Again, I think that it comes down to what we consider to be cheese. What many in china consider to be swannai (or sour milk -- yoghurt) could be cheese, depending on how it is made. And from what I have seen and been told, it seems that many people do eat yoghurt. I think that it is also depending on the type of food that you consume. People from the west will eat food that is more likely to have milk I guess! When I was in the NE and the SE, it was only possible to find cheese-related dairy products in stores or in foreign food places. However, in western regions, it seems a bit more ubiquitous. But, it would be really interesting to trace the history of these foods. Does anyone know what the status of milk and related products was back in the Qing Dynasty? During the Ming Dynasty? During the Song? Previous to that? Often times, foods we eat today depend directly on the history of the region. Although olives can grow in many places, it was a very simple thing which was efficient to carry back in the days of early farm parcels in Greece and Italy, and possibly this is why today people love to eat these foods so much? I know that these roots were planted more than 1800-2000 years ago, but since China has an even longer history that this, i may not be so easy for us to figure out! Thanks for everyone's interesting stories of the first time with food (one of my favorite topics).

I have seen some cheese eaten in china, but it is usually found in foods of more western china, such as in Sichuan, Yunnan, Xizhang, etc. Maybe you do not know what it looks like, since it is typically cooked into the food, I have found. However, if you ask by the Chinese name, it may help. cheese = nailao Interesting story though, thanks for sharing!!! What have been other's impressions of cheese?

Sadly, There are some jobs in the US that act the same way too, only it is they will not hire you if you are married to a non-citizen. Others make it illegal to talk to non-citizens, and still others deny you a passport while you work with them and still continue to deny you one for up to 5 years after that even. One of these people, a former co-student with me, has dropped off the map since he went to work for the DoD. Sadly, these rules seem to be applied by all nations, large and small. I know that Singapore does similar things too... Good Luck finding a career and enjoyable things that allow you two to be together! :-)

HUH? Many Chinese people, currently in the US, on F1, F2, G1, and G2 visas have a very difficult time exchanging all of their US$ back into RMB once they get back to China. I have seen this myself. I am not sure what the limit is, but many save 2.5wan US$ or more and want to trade it, but can not. It is with THESE people that if you have extra RMB you can trade when you get into the US.

I see that you did get your timeline to work out! That is wonderful news!!! However, given how non-linear it seems that the time for the process takes, I guess that just because you have a very low member number would not guarantee that your process is finished. But, the main thing to focus on is that you are done, with this first part of the process, and that you can now be together. That is wonderful news.

Have you obtained your NOA2 yet? After it is initially accepted at the first agency, it is then sent to the national visa center (NVC), and you get a NOA1. Once it is approved there (a security precation due to the fact that China is considered to pose a significant security risk to the US [i can not understand this one at all, but it is the law!!!]) it will THEN be sent to GZ and you get a NOA2. If it already has passed by there, people here have talked about ways to track the DHL tracking number of the shipments. There are other threads already online about that however. GL to you. I recommend getting on the phone and asking them what the status is (but do so nicely, as the phone operators really have little say in the whole process)!

This was very sad when I read about it last night before I went to bed. I am certainly glad that someone decided to post this link on this site. I was enthralled by her ability to write a book which portrays the history well to a foreign audience. This book is one of the reasons why Japan has been brought to light recently for wanting to alter its history program to hide its past atrocities. Depression is a serious illness causing pain and loss for on order of a hundred million people worldwide. The exact causes and triggers of the disease are not well known, but it is thought to be caused due to a chemical imbalance due to either genetics or due to environmental pollution. It is very sad to hear about this current case. However, I have a somewhat distant uncle who has a similar condition and his life has been very tough for him, so I can try to understand a little bit. I hope however that we can all learn to care for those around us and to always encourage them, and do our best to fight for the real things to improve our lives (like our loved ones, caring for the ill, and helping to educate the world). For more information about clinical depression, take a look at this website (I promise it is a neutral and fact-based site): http://www.nmha.org/ccd/index.cfm --LeLe

Oops! I can see your timeline now. Congrats!!!